Baby K - Post surgery

A few days ago, I received a text message from Mrs K, informing me that her little girl had been discharged one week after her heart op, and that they were already back home.

Coincidentally, on the very same day I got a parcel from my bank. You see, this little fella here appeared on the computer screen after one of my online banking transactions.

Am not a soft toy collector, as a matter of fact, I had never been the soft toy kinda child (I was more into hide & seek, konda-kondi and the likes), but since I do know of so many children from poor families, I figured I could give this to one of the children.

And since the parcel came on the same day as Mrs K's text message, guess who got to be the new owner of this little fella? Yep, none other than Baby K.

This afternoon I went to visit the K's. The little girl was at first quite grumpy (Mrs K said, dia baru lepas merajuk), but the moment I gave her the octo, ahh, she was back smiling again. So easy to pujuk one! :-)

Mrs K took off the girl's t-shirt to let me have a look at the scar - the cut on her chest was about 3 to 4 inches. I can just imagine how itchy it's gonna be when it dries up. I told Mrs K to put the girl's t-shirt back on so she wouldn't be scratching her chest!

The girl seemed to be doing fine. Oh yes, she does complain from time to time, but nothing serious. They just went to Ipoh GH yesterday to get the stitches off. Their next appointment in IJN will be next month.

Mrs K is on 2 months unpaid leave to take care of Baby K. It's gonna be tough for them next 2 months, especially since they need to move to another house by year end. I will be monitoring more on the children's educational needs.

I hope they have learnt their lessons and will spend more wisely this time.

Updates

Baby K, the hole-in-the-heart toddler, underwent her heart op on Wednesday afternoon. When I sent Mrs K a text message around 2.30 pm to ask on the little girl's update, I was told Baby K was just wheeled into the operation theatre. They were told the op would take between 2 to 3 hours, after which they'd be allowed to see the girl, from outside the ICU.

By Thursday afternoon, Baby K was sent to the ward to enable her parents to see and touch her. By Friday, she was already crying asking for more milk but Mrs K was advised not to give too much for fear of the girl ending up vomiting.

Well, so far so good... alhamdulillah. More updates later.

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Our Fellowship Committee met up on Wednesday night to discuss on our upcoming Fellowship Night, scheduled to be held on 1st December. The last DeepaRaya gathering we had back in 2007, the theme was "Sarong Night" where everybody had to come with a sarong - didn't matter how they wear them. Most wore their sarongs outside their normal clothes.

This time too we opted for something that wouldn't require the volunteers to take too much time to get ready especially since some of them would be coming right after work. So the theme this year is "Fancy Headgears". Any kind of headgear with the exception of sports caps are allowed.

Hmmm... so what kind of headgear should I be wearing huh?

Cowboy?

Red Indian?

Boxing?

Witch?

Or if I'm too lazy to find a suitable headgear, just put a wastebasket on my head and call it a headgear?

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Our awareness campaign for the Orang Asli community is on. Today our vice-chair and myself met up with 3 ladies who stay at Orang Asli settlements although they themselves are not OA's. Through them, we are arranging for the awareness campaign to be held on Sunday 6th December, in conjunction with World Aids Day. The kampong is easily accessible by car, which was what we were looking for since this the first of such programme for us. Depending on the outcome of this one, hopefully next time we will be able to conduct a similar programme at other OA settlements.

Finally we get to do our own programme for World Aids Day instead of the usually "tumpang sekaki" of whatever events organised by other organisations!

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The Ipoh International Friendship Night will be held at a Golf & Country Club next Sunday. With the aim of bringing together foreigners working or staying in or around Ipoh, and familiarising them with the various community associations and programmes in Ipoh, some NGOs were invited to showcase their services or programmes. Buddies were invited as well.

I have managed to get 4 volunteers other than myself to join me at our booth. It will be a good opportunity for Buddies to make ourselves known to more people around Ipoh.

*All pictures taken from photobucket.com

All the best & get well soon Baby K!

Saturday, 7th November 2009 -

I had initially planned to fetch one of our new volunteers to get him to come along with me to visit the K's. He stays not that far from where the K's are staying and as such I figured it would be good to introduce him to them.

Just as I was leaving my house, I called him to ask for some easily identifiable landmarks near his house. His kampong is not listed in the GPS map that I have and although I knew roughly where the area was, I'd still need some info to know where to stop.

Apparently something else cropped up for him but since he had just lost his phone, he was unable to contact me as my number too got lost together with the phone. The volunteer had to bring his father to the hospital and somehow as at the time that I called, his father had yet to see the doctor. So no go for him.

Ah well, so the lone ranger that I am, I went alone...

As I parked my car in front of the K's residence, I saw Shah, the eldest son, at the door, cleaning something. The moment he saw me, he hurriedly went inside to grab a t-shirt (segan I guess, as he was shirtless... tapi yang tak pakai baju dok depan pintu for all and sundry to see tu tak lak segan...)

It had been quite some time since I last saw Baby K, probably a year or so, as such I wasn't really sure if the little girl still remembered me or would want to come anywhere near me. But as I got out of my car, I heard Mrs K telling Baby K, "Ha tu, makcik dah sampai dah!", and the little girl's immediate reaction was "Yay, yay!!" The girl, who will be 3 in January, ran outside in her already heavy diapers which looked like it was falling off anytime.

Mrs K's 14 year old daughter (the one who had been SMS-ing me earlier this year to tell me how stressed she was with her family's problems) also came out to help carry the stuff I brought along in my car - rice, milk, cooking oil, sugar, noodles, canned food and some other ready to eat foodstuff.

Baby K was excitedly jumping up and down (causing her diapers to go lower and lower!), pointing to whatever was in my car, and telling me things in her own language. Mrs K did tell me earlier that the little girl would be real grumpy when she's in pain. But since she was in a jolly good mood when I visited, I guess she was not in pain then.

The little girl then mumbled something and then showed me her teeth. Ahh... she just had a minor dental surgery (required by IJN before she goes for her heart surgery) and that was the story she was trying to tell me. Waaa... very talkative lah this girl!

"Sakit tak?" I asked.

"Atit", came the reply. (Sakit lah tu...)

Anyway, according to Mrs K, the girl's heart surgery was originally scheduled on the 16th of November, but IJN called recently to inform them that since the particular doctor would not be around on that date, they managed to get an earlier date for the girl. Postponing it to a later date may mean the surgery will take place in another 6 months time or more, and since the letter offering financial assistance for the girl's surgery is valid for only 6 months, if the surgery is postponed too long, they may need to re-apply all over again for the financial assistance.

So might as well grab the earlier date. Get it over and done with.

Mr & Mrs K, together with Shah, would be going to KL on Sunday to accompany the little girl. Yep, Shah, the eldest son was going too as Mr K would be coming back after a day or two, as he needed to work. Mrs K is taking 2 months unpaid leave to take care of the girl. If Mr K too takes too many days off, what would they be earning for the month? So Shah will take turns with his mother to take care of the baby while at the hospital.

The 2 younger sisters are staying with their grandfather temporarily, until Mrs K and Shah comes back. They themselves aren't too sure how long the girl would need to be hospitalised.

They were initially planning to go to KL by bus but when told that train fares were cheaper, decided to take the train instead. I explained to Mrs K what to do and where to go to if they were asked to pay for this and that. I remember the first time they went to IJN, they ended up calling me for help when they were asked to pay a few hundred Ringgit.

I called the little girl to come get a duit raya packet from me. I told the girl to give the packet to her mother. (Which she did, thank goodness!) I then informed Mrs K about the financial assistance from Buddies Welfare Fund which was issued in the form of a cheque and which had been banked into her account but would only clear on Tuesday or Wednesday. I didn't tell her the amount though. I just left the printed bank slip in the duit raya packet together with some cash, in case she needed some cash, especially for bus/train fares, before the cheque cleared.

After chatting with them for about 40 minutes or so, I got up to leave. The girl, upon seeing me getting up, came running... "Nak amin! Nak amin!" (nak salam lah tu...) And when I didn't bend down, she pointed her finger to her cheeks, implying that I should kiss her! I lifted the girl up to give her a peck on her cheek.

The girl looked fit enough for the surgery. I do hope the surgery will proceed as scheduled and that everything will run smoothly for the little girl. I plan to visit them again after they come back from KL.

Baby K

I received a text message from one of Mrs K's children on Wednesday night. I seldom get text messages from Mrs K herself as usually she'd get her children to send the messages. Needless to say, being the old school type, it took me a bit more time than usual to comprehend the whole message. With phrases like "dia sroh msuk awl", "nk kne opret", "ibu cbe kol", "nak g tau sal ni le", I had to reread and reread to make sure I got the story right. Yep, this is the same family which got me confused with the "ekor jantung" SMS some time ago.

Anyway, the gist of the message was, IJN had called them and asked to bring Baby K to KL this coming Monday although originally the surgery is scheduled on the 16th. The K's had been trying to call my colleague to inform him about this but their calls never got through.

I replied the message, telling them that I'd visit them this Saturday. I think that was what they were hoping for. I learnt from my colleague that earlier on they did mention to him they may want to try ask from "Kak Zah" some financial assistance for their bus fares to go to KL (but had been postponing doing so sebab Kak Zah garang... hehehe).

We have not told them about the approved amount from our Welfare Fund. I purposely didn't want to give the money earlier, in case they end up using the money for other things before they even manage to get on the bus. And I didn't even want to tell them about it earlier either, in case they end up borrowing somebody else's money and promising to pay once they get our funds. Trust me, knowing them, they would. It's just as bad as giving them the money earlier.

I have already banked in the cheque for them this morning, but will only inform them when I visit them tomorrow. I'm not sure yet who amongst them are going to KL and who are not. But it's not school holidays yet, so I guess the other children won't be going, unless they intend to ponteng. Shah, the eldest son, who is doing odd jobs to earn some income, is reliable enough to take care of his sisters.

So I think I will bring some groceries along as well so that the children staying behind will have enough food supply in the absence of their parents.

More updates after the visit.

This and that

We (Buddies) had our board meeting last night with ngam-ngam quorum. It would be a blessing if we can get full board attendance, even once a year. With everyone busy with their own work and family, and only joining Buddies on voluntary basis, it can be very difficult to gather all the volunteers under the same roof at the same time. One of our board members even tendered her resignation last night as her job requires her to travel a lot, leaving her very little time for voluntary work.

That's why after the meeting last night, when a fellow volunteer asked me if we should be roping in more Malays as volunteers in our organisation, I said I didn't care which race they're from. Malays ka... Chinese ka... Indians ka... heck, if he can get Mat Sallehs oso I don't care. We just need volunteers so that the small group of volunteers that we have don't suffer from burnout!

Nevertheless, we are still proceeding with our plan for an awareness programme at one of the Orang Asli settlements in Perak. During last month's board meeting, we assigned 2 of the board members to get more info from their contacts. One of them was to get in touch with the JHEOA. Well, he did get in touch with one officer, but got a rather disappointing reply. The officer said they are not interested to participate since there are already other agencies/organisations dealing with such matters (HIV). (Ladies & gentlemen, welcome to Malaysia... the land of "that's not my job"!) I'm not sure if that is the stand of JHEOA or just that particular officer my colleague contacted, but frankly, I initially thought going through JHEOA first would be more proper rather than just pandai-pandai sendiri. If they don't want to have any part in this, so be it. Pinggan tak retak, nasi tak dingin, orang tak hendak, kami pun tak ingin...

We still intend to go in anyway. My other colleague's friend has agreed to help us out, and we also have another volunteer who has also had the experience of going into the OA areas. In addition, I've also been liaising with someone from the COAC (Center for Orang Asli Concerns) who seem more interested in the project, and willing to help out at least in connecting us with the OA community leaders.

So yep, God-willing, we're targeting early December for our project, in conjunction with the World AIDS Day.

On another note, remember little Baby K... the hole-in-the-heart baby? Well, she's due for her heart operation in November. The cost of RM20K for the operation has already been covered, so we don't have to worry about going around asking for donations; but Mr and Mrs K still need some money to cover their cost of living in KL during the period when Baby K is hospitalised in IJN. And with the kind of jobs they have, taking leave from work means unpaid leave. In other words, less income for them next month.

But not to worry, the board has approved a certain amount from our Welfare Fund (a portion of the RM20K grant we got from Yayasan Sultan Azlan Shah before Raya has been allocated to our Welfare Fund) and the approved amount will be given to Mrs K before they leave for KL.

Hopefully there will be no other complications for the little girl before, during and after the scheduled surgery...

Updates on Lin & Baby K

I was just about to park my car near my office this morning when I heard the SMS tone from my hand phone. I ignored it until I got to my office. The message came from Lin...

"Kak, kalau CD4 saya OK, nak bagitau doktor ke pasal saya tak makan ubat?"

I told her to tell the whole truth to the doctor. Otherwise, the doctor may think she has no problem whatsoever with the present ARV medication.

About 12.15 pm, I texted Lin, asking if she was done at the HIV clinic. She replied, saying that she's just waiting for whatever documents - drug prescriptions, and next appointment dates, etc. So I told her to wait at the waiting area in front of the Klinik Pakar once she was done. I would be leaving my office at 12.45 pm and should reach there in 10 or 15 minutes.

When I got to the hospital, I didn't see Lin at the waiting area. There was no available parking space nearby, so I waited a while behind one of the cars and tried calling her. My call couldn't get through. Tried a few times with the same result. So I decided to go one more round. By the time I got to the front again, Lin was still not there. I tried calling Lin again, and again the call couldn't get through. Apparently at certain areas at the Klinik Pakar, the reception may not be clear or there may be no reception at all.

Finally I decided to park my car at the open area behind the hospital and go look for Lin. Had to carry along my laptop as it wouldn't be safe to leave the laptop in the car. As I reached the pharmacy I tried calling Lin again. This time my call went through...

"Lin kat mana ni?"

"Ada kat depan kat tempat akak suruh tunggu tu."

"Saya dah 2 kali lalu situ takde pun?"

"Baru sampai kak, baru lepas ambil ubat."

I told her to walk back to the pharmacy and meet me there. No point for me to walk all the way to the front and then walk back again to get back to my car.

"Semua dah settle?" I asked.

"Tak, nurse tu suruh pergi makan dulu, lepas tu datang balik jumpa dia dalam pukul 2.30."

There were quite a number of patients at the HIV clinic today, and the doctors were also late (probably had to go round the wards first), and so by lunch time, there were still a few pending cases. Although Lin had gone in to see the doctor, the staff were rather shorthanded to prepare all the letters etc. So they told her to go for lunch first and come back after that.

"Amacam? Dah puas kena bambu?" I teased Lin. She smiled, "Nasib baik mood depa baik hari ni. Taklah kena teruk sangat."

Besides, she told the truth before the doctor said anything, including the reason behind her fear (as mentioned in my previous posting), so SN ended up giving her a hug instead.

BUT... her CD4 had gone down drastically to 26. Oh dear, she definitely needs to start taking her medication now. And she promised me she will.

I then took Lin out for lunch. Took the opportunity to ask about herself and her children. Lin used to help out at her brother's food stall. Now she has started her own corner there, selling pisang goreng. Her brother encouraged her to do so - he couldn't afford to pay her more, and she should be able to earn more with her own pisang goreng stall. According to Lin, she gets her supply of pisang abu at the market nearby.

At least now I know what to bring her whenever I visit. There are banana trees behind my house, and sometimes we just leave the fruits on the trees to be eaten by the birds. There's not much that my mother and I can eat anyway, and quite a number of folks cannot tahan pisang abu... angin... so they say. If it's pisang tanduk or pisang asam, then my neighbours would be glad to have them. (Yes, I do know quite a few types of bananas, even the ones which are not available at my house, including pisang emas (bawa belayar?), pisang rastali, pisang awak & pisang nangka... and I also know pisang kaki but it's not a type of banana!)

There are times when I have an abundance of pisang abu at home. Now I know where to send them - and Lin can cut down a bit on costs when I get to do that!

It's good to know that there are people like Lin who at least makes an attempt to earn a living. I don't mind helping this kind of people. Unlike some people I know who depend totally on welfare aid... and complains when the welfare aid comes in late.

Yeah, if you had been reading this blog from the start, I'm sure you know who they are...

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And here's a little update on Baby K...

Mr & Mrs K brought the little girl for her second appointment at IJN earlier this week. The doctors have confirmed that the little hole-in-heart girl should be ready for surgery in November. The cost for the surgery is RM20K, but after appealing, the Yayasan IJN (I think) has agreed to cover RM19.5K, while the couple will have to fork out another RM500. I think the RM500 is just to make sure that the parents would at least make an attempt to contribute a minimal amount for the surgery.

Frankly, if it is up to them, I doubt they'd be able to come up with the RM500. They don't even have enough to cover their monthly expenses... always hutang here hutang there.

Well, I don't think there'd be any problem for me to get contributions of RM500 needed for Baby K - plus maybe an additional few hundreds for the guardians while they're there. Mrs K will definitely need to take leave from work. As such she will be earning less that month. Of course, I didn't tell Mr & Mrs K I'd try to find donors - if I did, they'd probably just goyang kaki from now until November. And if I do get the contributions now, I will only hand it over to them when it's time for the girl's surgery. If they get the money too early, they'd probably use it for other purposes and then go back to square one when the time comes for Baby K's surgery.

Ekor Jantung?

I was blog hopping yesterday when I received a text message from Mrs K. She told me that Baby K had to be warded in Ipoh GH. Baby K was having high fever and since this little girl also has a hole-in-the-heart, the doctors feared there may be some infections and so she was warded for further tests.

My house is not that far from the hospital, so I was thinking of visiting them today. I have not met them for quite some time and I thought with them already here in Ipoh, it's a good opportunity for me to meet up with them without having to drive all the way to their home.

But today I was (and still am) coughing. It is not as bad as it was yesterday, but you know, once the "switch" is on, it's hard to stop. Just like in Makkah where one jama'ah starts coughing in Masjidil Haram, there'll be chain reaction where so many other jama'ah will also start coughing. It will probably be the same at the hospital. I don't want to be coughing at the ward in the presence of the little girl and other children (pediatric ward).

Since I wanted to avoid spreading more virus at the hospital's pediatric ward, I sent a text message to Mrs K, asking how Baby K was doing, and apologizing for not visiting, giving her my reasons.

After a while, Mrs K's reply came...

"Demam mlm baru blik dari buat ekor jantung"

I admit, I'm usually rather slow in interpreting text messages from Mrs K and her family. They are so used to using terms like "chat" in place of "sihat", "umah" for "rumah", "kem sam" for "kirim salam". Oh, you get the drift. I'm still the old timer who prefers to type in full although I am already beginning to change certain long words like "tomorrow" to "2moro" (trying to mengikut perkembangan semasa...)

Anyway, based on the above SMS, I suppose Mrs K either meant Baby K demam malam or demam semalam. And they just came back from... huh? Buat ekor jantung?

Did the doctors have to attach some tail-like thingy to the baby's heart?

What ekor jantung did she mean? Something like this maybe.... a heart-shaped tail?

Finally it dawned on me... duh! For Mrs K not to know it's excusable lah - she probably believed that the doctors/nurses literally meant ekor jantung.

They actually did a heart ECHO scan on the little girl. Sigh... why lah am I so slow today?!

*Images from photobucket.com

Update on Baby K

While I was at the waiting room outside the OT of Putrajaya Hospital, waiting for my mother while she had her knee operation, Mrs K called from a public phone. She was then at IJN taking baby K for her appointment. If you recall in one of my earlier postings, I mentioned about Baby K being diagnosed as having a hole in the heart by the doctors at Ipoh GH, and so she was referred to IJN.

The week before they went to KL, they called to inform me about the appointment. I told them I wouldn’t be around in Ipoh as I would be in KL for quite some time. So the day before they went to KL, I got an SMS from them asking if I was still in KL and if I’d be visiting Baby K at IJN. Also, if Mr and Mrs K could hitch a ride in my car when I go back to Ipoh. I told them I was in KL to take care of my mother who was undergoing a knee operation and as such even if I was going back to Ipoh on the same day as them, I wouldn’t be able to offer them a ride.

It so happened that Baby K’s appointment was on the very same day that my mother had her knee operation. Mrs K called me because she was asked for payment. She only had RM150 in hand but the amount asked for was more than that. She was probably thinking that since I was in KL I’d be able to help her out. Sorry lah, I have my priorities. I told her that IJN has its own welfare body and told her to ask around. Mr K was also with her and so they shouldn’t be depending on me just to ask around. Prior to this I had already sent them a text message telling them what to do and what documents to bring along when they go to IJN. They should at least be a bit more independent to do the asking.

After that call from Mrs K, I set my hand phone on silent mode. I was at a “No Hand Phone” area and so I didn’t want to keep getting unnecessary calls. Later I noticed there was a missed call from the same number which I didn’t answer.

A few days later I got a message from them. They were already back home. Ah, so they survived without my help. Just shows that they could actually handle things if they had to.

Anyway, the message was to inform me that the doctors at IJN had confirmed Baby K’s hole-in-heart. The little girl who is now 1 ½ years old may need to undergo a heart surgery when she’s 4 years old. Meanwhile there will be more follow-ups at IJN from time to time.

I haven’t had the chance to visit them or any of my other clients yet. Although I am back home, my mother still needs supervision and she’s my top priority. Ramadhan is coming soon and I am not sure if I’d be able to do my pre-Raya house visits this year. Maybe I can do so on weekends when my sister is around. Maybe. I am still not sure. Even for the Education Sponsorship for Children which I am handling, thank goodness there is such a thing as internet banking so I can easily transfer the monthly pocket money and bus fares to the children’s account from the comfort of my home.

Ah well, I’ve got to set my priorities right…

Ahh... another hectic week...

Although I don’t have to travel much like I did last week (for last week alone I spent over RM200 for petrol and another RM100 + for toll – and I only use a Kenari which doesn’t really consume as much petrol as the bigger cars!), this is still a hectic week for me.

You see, I didn’t come to the office for the whole of last week, and my partner is off for umrah from 2nd to 14th July, so there are lots of things to settle at the office. Although my office staffs know their jobs, there are certain things they cannot do – like signing the statutory documents. And somehow it is when both of us are not around, THAT is when our business clients ask for certified copies of whatever forms they need!

So, while a few of my PLWHA clients asked if they could see me this week, either I couldn’t oblige or I dared not commit.

Last week when Mrs. K called me, I told her I’d get back to her this week. Yesterday I sent her a text message, telling her that I am not able to do any house visits this month. I also told her about applying for help for baby K in IJN, and that I cannot help her about Mr. K’s personal problems.

But last night, Mrs. K’s daughter called, from a public phone, asking when I’d be visiting them as her mother needed to talk to me about her father’s problems. That meant they didn’t get my text message – and my guess is that their hand phone is going through the same process again... (as per my posting here). I suppose that was to be expected as Mrs. K did mention a bit about her husband’s problem when she called me last week.

When I told the daughter that I won’t be able to visit this month, she said her mother together with baby K will be coming to Ipoh GH on Thursday, so she asked if her mother can meet me then. I dared not promise anything, so I told her to get her mom to call me first when they are in Ipoh. If I’m free then, I’d try to meet them.

This morning after finishing my morning routine at home and as I was about to leave for work, I saw a text message on my hand phone. It was from Hana. She asked if I’d be going to the hospital today. If I was, she wanted to pass me the list of monthly expenses for her children, who are under sponsorship. I simply can’t afford to go this morning, as I am expecting someone at the office, so I told her to pass the list to Pat, a fellow volunteer who stays in the same town as Hana.

Back to Mrs. K, what seems to be Mr. K’s problem?

From the little bit told over the phone to me by Mrs. K last week, Mr. K seemed to have some problem with his previous employer. He used to work at a factory (as a jaga) and when there were some things missing, he was purportedly accused of stealing them. And so it seemed, the employer threatened to report him to the police if he did not pay up RM1,000. Scared he might end up in jail, he borrowed RM1,000 from a money lender to pay up. And the interest? RM200 a month!!

Well, at least that was what Mr. K CLAIMED had happened. Mrs. K believed him, but I am rather skeptical about the whole story.

Even if he was telling the truth, they had gone through the process of borrowing from an unauthorized money-lender before and so they should know how it’s like! All I can say is… TAK SERIK-SERIK!!! If he was not guilty, he shouldn’t have been afraid about being reported to the police. Report lah! Got proof or not?! Or did the employer make a statutory declaration based on hearsay?? (Hehehe…)

The last time they borrowed from the money-lender, we Buddies helped them with Mr. K’s EPF withdrawal, so they managed to settle the loan. The balance of the EPF withdrawal… I reminded them to spend on necessities, but did they listen? No, no, no!! They spent like they had loads of money. Now they are back to square one, they expect me to help them out? Sorry lah… Everybody makes mistakes I know, but when they don’t learn from their mistakes, we can’t be helping them out every time!

I will only help out if it has anything to do with the children’s schooling and baby K’s medical needs. If it is a problem Mr. K got himself into, then he himself will need to learn to face the consequences.

And so, if I do get to meet Mrs. K tomorrow, that is what I am going to tell her. I would have told her so last night if Mrs. K herself had called me, but since it was her daughter who called; I couldn’t lecture the 13 year old girl about her parents, could I?

Sigh…

Ahhh!! I am not going to crack my head thinking about their problems. My priority now is my own mother – that will not change!

A busy weekend...

I had wanted to visit baby K again over the weekend but there were oh so many things to do. Other than sending my car for servicing on Saturday morning, later at 3 pm we had our gotong-royong to tidy up our NGO center. Yes, we do have our cleaner coming in every Saturday to clean up the place but all she does is to clean the place… not tidy up the mess we created in our store room.

So we figured it was time to clear up the place – tidy up the things we need and throw away the things that we don’t. Otherwise even the useful things we won’t be able to use because by the time we need to use them, we won’t be able to find them!

7 volunteers turned up and one of the volunteers brought along his wife to help out (very clever, when it came to hard work, he brought his wife!!).

Before - everything simply chucked one thing on top of another...

The main thing causing the piling up of things in the store room was actually our Buddy Bears – its production has been greater than demand. With the bears in plastic bags and chucked into the store room, all the things that were placed in the store room earlier were simply lost from our sight! So we took things out from the room, placed the bears in boxes and marked the number of bears on each box.

During - an even bigger mess created...

Then we had to rearrange everything back into the room. Buddy Bears at one corner… Family Day things at one corner… groceries for our poor clients at one corner… at least we won’t get “drowned” in the mess when we try to look for things next time.

After - the bears already in boxes and stacked up at one corner

I couldn’t visit baby K on Sunday either as I had to go to KL for some personal matters. But Mrs. K did call me on Sunday evening, telling me that her little girl would probably be discharged on Monday and that the doctors had arranged for her IJN appointment in August. I know she’s worried about the traveling costs. I will have to think of something to help her out. Even if they still have their EPF money, they still need help.

Fuzi too called me. I had told her earlier to inform me if any of her children need to pay anything extra for their schooling needs as they are under sponsorship. So yes, her eldest daughter Wina was chosen as a prefect and needed to pay for her prefect’s uniform. In addition she also had to pay an additional fee of RM20 asked by her class teacher. Whatever the fee was for I don’t know, I will have to see the receipt first. Talk about free education….

And oh, Fuzi also mentioned that the children’s bus fares have increased from RM30 to RM40 a month. Which reminds me, with the price of petrol/diesel up; surely the other children too may have to pay extra for their bus fares. I’d better ask around, sometimes they are too shy to tell us if we don’t ask. I just came back from KL myself (my first trip to KL since petrol price shot up) and somehow my petrol tank seemed to have expanded….

And I’ve got quite a number of trips to KL in the next few weeks and maybe months... alamaaak…

Dear little Baby K

When Mr. K was first diagnosed as HIV positive, Mrs. K was pregnant. Their main concern then was that Mrs. K may have been infected too, and as such, precautions must be taken to minimise the chances of infection to the baby.

The first blood test on Mrs. K showed negative results. The doctor at the HIV clinic was not satisfied (she had to be doubly sure as a baby’s life was involved) and had another blood test done on her. The second test too showed negative results. Thank goodness. That meant Mrs. K could deliver the baby the normal procedure.

But even after due date Mrs. K had still not delivered and so finally the doctors decided a c-sect had to be done. The baby came out normal though, and since Mrs. K was confirmed free from HIV, the baby need not take any ARV medication and Mrs. K could breastfeed the baby (but somehow she didn’t have enough milk to feed the baby, and as such they needed supplies of milk powder just as much as those who couldn’t breastfeed their babies).

Little Baby K is nearly 1 ½ years old now. She didn’t have much problem, health wise. But recently she was down with fever and couldn’t sleep and eat well. She’d end up with diarrhea every time they fed her milk. Mrs. K brought her to the clinic and was given the usual medication. But Baby K didn’t get well. Early one morning, about 4 am, she was crying and crying and getting blue, and so her parents took her to the district hospital where the little girl was warded.

After a few days, she was discharged. But just 2 days after she got home, the same thing occurred. She was turning blue again. And again, she was brought to the district hospital and was warded yet again. It was then that the doctor asked if anyone in the family had any blood problems. Mrs. K didn’t want to tell about Mr. K’s HIV status as she said usually once they knew he was positive, the whole family would get a one kind of treatment from the hospital staff. A blood test was done on Baby K and Mrs. K started to worry if the baby had indeed been infected with HIV. I assured her that the baby would only be infected if Mrs. K herself was infected. But Mrs. K just had a blood test done a few weeks earlier and although she had not got the results, usually if it’s positive, SN would have called her by now.

Anyway, the doctor didn’t say anything about Baby K’s blood test. He just suggested to the family to change the little girl’s milk powder to something more expensive. The girl was discharged and Mr. & Mrs. K followed the doctor’s advice and bought the expensive milk powder. They didn’t have enough money, they borrowed.

Baby K still didn’t get well. This time, they decided to take her direct to Ipoh GH. That was 2 days ago. The girl was immediately warded and all sorts of tests were done – blood, x-ray, etc. And it was confirmed that… little Baby K has a hole-in-the-heart. Sigh…

Anyway, yesterday there was a royal visit to the Ipoh GH. The Sultan and Raja Permaisuri of Perak were there to officially rename the Ipoh GH to Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun. The royalties went around visiting a few wards as well, and naturally, the pediatric ward was top on the list. And you know what that meant? Yep, little Baby K had royal visitors and received a hamper and a teddy bear from the Raja Permaisuri herself! Woohoo! Her siblings would be jealous! They weren’t there when the royalties visited.

I went to visit Baby K yesterday. No-lah, not at the same time as the royal visit. I went later during visiting hours – the royalties were there in the morning.

The little girl was so happy and active yesterday. Those who saw her kept asking, “Dia sakit apa? Nampak sihat je?” When I got there she was so comot after eating choc biscuits from the hamper. She was so happy when I took her out of her bed and brought her around the ward. She was even happier when Mrs. K put on her shoes for her and we let her roam free. We ended up having a tough time chasing her around the ward! At home the little girl never had such a big space to move around – this time she had the whole hospital ward!

Well, Baby K will have to stay in the ward for a few more days at least for observation. At the same time, the doctors are arranging for appointments at IJN for her. That means, from now on, the Ks will also have to travel to KL for Baby K’s hospital appointments in addition to Mr. K’s appointments in Ipoh.

More money needed for sure. And with Mrs. K having to take leave from work more often, there will be less income.

Oh dear, here we go again…